STIGUI
V-268133CAT II — Medium severitySV-268133r1131071_rule

NixOS must enforce a 60-day maximum password lifetime restriction.

Rule version ANIX-00-000800 · STIG v1 · 2025-08-19

Discussion

Any password, no matter how complex, can eventually be cracked. Therefore, passwords need to be changed periodically. If the operating system does not limit the lifetime of passwords and force users to change their passwords, there is the risk that the operating system passwords could be compromised.

Check

Verify NixOS enforces a 60-day maximum password lifetime for new user accounts by running the following command:

$ grep PASS_MAX_DAYS /etc/login.defs

PASS_MAX_DAYS 60

If the "PASS_MAX_DAYS" parameter value is less than 60 or commented out, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure NixOS operating system to enforce a 60-day maximum password lifetime.

Add the following Nix code to the NixOS Configuration, usually located in /etc/nixos/configuration.nix or /etc/nixos/flake.nix:

security.loginDefs.settings.PASS_MAX_DAYS = "60";

Rebuild and switch to the new NixOS configuration: $ sudo nixos-rebuild switch

Identifiers

Group ID
V-268133
Group title
SRG-OS-000076-GPOS-00044
Rule ID
SV-268133r1131071_rule
Check ID
C-72057r1039285_chk
Fix ID
F-71960r1131070_fix